Chapter 3 #2
Billie was alone in the apartment when the employment agency called her about the job at Cedars-Sinai.
It was a much quieter call than Mickie’s, for a lot less money.
But it was security, and money she could live on.
She had the job for four to six months to cover the lab tech’s maternity leave.
She was expecting twins and was on bed rest, and her leave might go longer, which suited Billie.
She was going to be working in the pathology lab of the most prestigious hospital in L.A.
The cases would be interesting. She’d be working with highly trained technicians and outstanding doctors.
It was the perfect job for her. She was due to start in two days and she could hardly wait.
She didn’t run around the apartment screaming.
She sat quietly on the couch, all alone, with a broad smile of relief on her face.
The move to California had been the right one, and she was actually enjoying getting to know her sister as the person she had grown up to be.
Mickie had been fifteen when Billie left for college, and she had changed a lot in the last four years.
Their paths and personalities were completely different, but the nasty little brat Mickie had been as a young teenager seemed to have metamorphosed into a somewhat interesting young woman.
Billie was beginning to feel a deep-rooted affection and respect for her.
It reminded her of something her father always said, and had reminded her of often when Mickie drove her crazy when they were both younger.
He had told her never to forget that blood was thicker than water, and bottom line, they were sisters and that meant a lot more than friendship.
Billie was beginning to discover that, and almost forgave her the trials of her childhood.
Maybe they didn’t really matter once you grew up.
She was beginning to suspect that was the case.
She couldn’t wait to tell Mickie that night that she got the job at Cedars-Sinai.
It wasn’t as glamorous an accomplishment as Mickie’s.
It wasn’t glamorous at all. But it was solid and she would be able to pay her half of the rent.
And it gave her time to look for an even better job while she had the safety of the long-term temp job at Cedars for the duration of someone’s maternity leave.
It gave her breathing space, and was exactly what she needed right now.
Their prayers had been answered. Mickie had gotten the job that would push her up the ladder to greater success, and Billie had gotten the security she needed to retreat into peaceful anonymity in the pathology lab of a terrific hospital.
Mickie was happy for her too. She had come home after signing all the confidentiality agreements, with half a dozen enormous shopping bags filled with never-worn designer clothes at bargain prices.
They looked as though they had been made for her, and would enhance her image whenever she went out in public wearing them, to go-sees or publicity events she might get invitations to, which was the next item on her wish list. Her face and name had to become known to achieve the fame she wanted.
Celebrity meant everything to Mickie, and would have been Billie’s worst nightmare.
She enjoyed being invisible, and unknown.
She just wanted to be part of a team that did great things in medical research.
The sisters’ dreams were very different, and always had been.
It was hard to believe they had the same parents and had grown up in the same house.
They were both busy getting ready for their new adventures.
Billie opened her boxes of books and reread the two she had on abnormal clinical pathology.
She did her laundry and picked out her best T-shirts and blouses and newest jeans to wear under her lab coat.
There was no dress code, and she would have no interactions with the public, only with the medical staff, but she wanted to look neat and presentable.
Mickie picked the outfits she wanted to take to the shoot, the shoes that went with them, and some vintage Chanel costume jewelry she had bought at her favorite store.
She had her hair lightened again with highlights, and bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate with Billie.
Mickie was being paid twenty thousand dollars for the shoot, and she wanted to be as perfect as she could be.
She had a manicure and pedicure and tried to get Billie to go with her, but Billie did her nails herself, wanted to wear them short for the lab, and didn’t like wearing nail polish. Their mother hadn’t worn any either.
“I must have been switched at the hospital at birth,” Mickie said as they finished the champagne the night before they started their jobs.
“Some glamorous movie star must have given birth in that miserable hellhole we grew up in. She left me by mistake and took the daughter who would have been happy working at the dairy for the rest of her life, and she’s miserable now somewhere here in L.A.
, desperately searching for a cow to milk on Sunset Strip.
” Billie laughed. Mickie could be funny at times, usually at someone else’s expense.
“Where does that leave me? How do you explain me landing in the middle of Iowa?” Billie said, and emptied the last drops in her champagne glass.
“Oh, for you, my darling older sister, our mother must have had a clandestine affair with Albert Einstein, who drove through town on a secret mission, fell in love with our mother, and nine months later, she gave birth to you, our very own little genius.” They both laughed and went to their bedrooms to finish preparing for the next day.
They were both dressed when they met in the kitchen the next morning for a cup of coffee.
Mickie looked exquisite in her white Chanel suit, which was her favorite, and fit her perfectly.
It looked like haute couture on her, and she was wearing her fake diamond studs in her ears, and had a pair of pearl earrings in her purse.
Billie was wearing a brand-new pink T-shirt, with matching pink sneakers, her hair in a neat ponytail down her back, and a brand-new pair of Levis.
“Do you want to borrow my Chanel jeans?” Mickie asked Billie. Her sister laughed.
“They’ll be two feet too long on me, and they’d probably think I stole them. They aren’t going to pay me enough for Chanel jeans, but thank you anyway.”
They left at the same time in two separate Ubers and wished each other luck.
Mickie hadn’t been to her waitress job in three days and had told them she wouldn’t be in for the next week, and nor would Billie.
She had only been a fill-in anyway. The restaurant rearranged Mickie’s shifts.
She was a good waitress and they didn’t want to lose her, and they’d made adjustments for her before when she got modeling shoots.
With her looks, they knew they wouldn’t have her forever.
They had enough unemployed actresses to draw on who were always looking for work.
Billie headed for Cedars-Sinai, and still looked like a kid going to camp.
She was immaculate and tidy. She’d even pressed her jeans, but she barely looked like a grown-up.
Mickie looked as though she should be riding in a limousine as the car headed for Bel Air with garment bags, two tote bags, and everything she needed for her change of outfits at the elegant house that would soon be the home of Bellissima, under the auspices of Dr. Alexander Addison IV. And he lived in an apartment upstairs.
Mickie was excited as she stepped out of the car, looking like a movie star, and the photographer the doctor had hired, Zack Campbell, snapped her picture as she was arriving.
After that, he took her bags and carried them inside for her.
He shot a lot of models, and was indifferent to most of them, but Mickie had caught his eye at the go-see and captured his attention from the first moment he saw her.
There was something special about her. When she looked you in the eye, you felt as though you were all that mattered to her.
The doctor was waiting in the living room, which had been turned into a studio for the shoot.
Zack’s two assistants had lit the scene, and they were going to photograph Mickie looking relaxed and at ease in a corner of the area that would be used as a waiting room.
Alex Addison loved the Chanel suit, and wanted Mickie to wear it in the first shots.
A stylist went through the wardrobe Mickie had brought and approved almost all of it.
A makeup artist put some finishing touches on her face, and the hairstylist brushed her long blonde hair and laid it carefully on her shoulders.
They had a full crew for the five-day shoot.
The photographer’s assistants were already lighting the next setup.